The only reason I'd tune in is to see Michael from Australia again, a holdover from when Survivor contestants were chosen for more then how they looked in a bikini. Unfortunately, they will most likely vote all of them out before the merge.

I think Jonathon might have what it takes to get far as he's a bit of a sneaky bastard, Mike was pissing everyone off by the time he burned himself and would have probably been the first member of his tribe to get voted off after the merge. I can't remember that much of Russell other than he was something of a leader for his tribe.

Russel might have been booted if the guy they did vote off (forgot his name already) had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. Too early to play the mind games he was attempting to play. Espeically at the first tribal council, giving your teammates an easy out should be avoided.

I really enjoyed the premier, talk about a beautiful location - those opening shots of the Philippines were stunning.

Redneck tattoo kid really made several huge mistakes, definitely deserved to go. He makes an alliance with everyone and then tells someone that he made alliances with everyone and then basically puts his own head on the chopping block in some backwards ass stupid plan he hatched. Idiot.

Russell sure came off as a fool, who says they don't want to be the leader and then goes ahead and start barking orders at people? Funny that Mike is the only guy to recognize Tootie's friend, and I loved it when the girl figured out it was Jeff Kent and then started asking him questions while looking at him with an "are you fucking kidding me?" look.

My early favorites is that alliance between the young studly guy and the older woman, both seem pretty smart.

Russel might have been booted if the guy they did vote off (forgot his name already) had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. Too early to play the mind games he was attempting to play. Espeically at the first tribal council, giving your teammates an easy out should be avoided.

Click to expand...

We have a 90 minute opener, so there's plenty of time to give introductions to everyone. We get intros for the three returnees, and then for the two already-famous people. And then for Tat guy. (zane?) ... Then they go on with the opening credits. I was confused momentarily, as in "why would they pick out this one guy and give him a special centerpiece intro like that and not the others?" ... by the time the first commercial break was over, I'd already decided he was the one to get voted off, and that's why they featured him that way.

A few seasons back, there was a young gay guy on the show. He had barely been in any episodes, no mention of anything about him beyond his name, until his final episode. Then, suddenly, he's everywhere, we get his interviews/video diaries, he's a big part of the challenge ... Sometimes, they make it completely obvious who is getting the boot.

I can't believe how stupid Zane acted, everyone was annoyed by Russel and wanted to get rid of him, so naturally he does everything to convince the others to vote for him and thinks that this is a brilliant plan?
What makes it worse that even after he put himself up for elimination the others made it pretty obvious they wanted to keep him, so what does he do?

Blond girl: Uh Zane, I know you said it's all your fault, but I actually think it's Russel's fault, so I think he should go home.
Zane (thinking): Oh my god, my plan works, I'm genius but I have to make sure she doesn't change her mind about Russel!
Zane: No blond girl, vote for me, Zane. That's Z, A, N, E, it's all my fault, I suck, I'm bad at running.
BG: But Russel ...
Zane: No, ME! Everyone has to vote for me! And I'm pretty sure he has immunity anyway.

*Everyone votes for Zane*

Zane: Fuck

What I didn't get is why they didn't vote for Russel anyway. It was obvious Russel would vote for Zane so if everyone else voted for Russel they had nothing to lose.

Russel has no immunity idol: He goes
Russel has an immunity idol but doesn't play it: He goes
Russel has an immunity idol and plays it: Zane goes, Russels stays but lost his immunity idol

I guess Zane fighting for votes kinda makes sense if he thought Russel had found the immunity idol. Make him think he's safe so that he doesn't play it, *bam* he goes home. The only problem is that he didn't tell his team mates about it, if this was his plan.

I watched it last night and enjoyed it, but I was surprised not many people knew Jeff Kent was a baseball player.

I do wonder what the final season of Survivor will be like, if there even will be such a thing. It's approaching soap opera territory now, if not getting up there with the Simpsons. I guess it's still a ratings hit but, like Amazing Race, it's getting worn out.

The only one of the three returnees I'm not familiar with is Russell, but he's lucky Zane screwed up so badly. He talks about not wanting to come in and be a leader this time around, and the first thing he starts doing is bossing people around and acting like a leader. He eventually noticed his mistake, now it'll be interesting to see if he remembers not to do it again.

Having Mike from Australia back is awesome, I liked him and was sorry to see him go. I suspect once "outed" the celebrity castaways will leave pretty quickly. Should certainly be an interesting season.

There's also a local to my area on this season.

Well, the "Zane Gambit" didn't work. I was wondering what he was going for there and, well, apparently he didn't either. Shame because he actually seemed like a good guy and Russel was being such an asshat he deserved to get the boot.

I'm not surprised. How many players from your local baseball team from a few years ago could your name or pick out of a lineup let alone someone from another baseball team? Scores of baseball players, dozens of teams, things changing every year. No surprise no one recognized him. It's more of a surprise no one recognized Facts of Life girl.

Except that he is a borderline hall of famer. Hardly a random journeyman. They've had more obscure pro athletes in the past. Also, he was recognized.

Anyone who paid attention to baseball at all in the mid-90s through the mid-00s is going to recognize the name at least. He was never really the marquee draw, always overshadowed by a Bonilla or a Bonds, and he has a pretty generic look to him though.

I'm not surprised. How many players from your local baseball team from a few years ago could your name or pick out of a lineup let alone someone from another baseball team? Scores of baseball players, dozens of teams, things changing every year. No surprise no one recognized him. It's more of a surprise no one recognized Facts of Life girl.

Click to expand...

I could probably name the Giants 2002 Roster, at least half of them, which included Jeff Kent and Berry Bonds. I just find it hard to believe that only one person recognized him, given he was a star baseball player in his career.

I'm not surprised. How many players from your local baseball team from a few years ago could your name or pick out of a lineup let alone someone from another baseball team? Scores of baseball players, dozens of teams, things changing every year. No surprise no one recognized him. It's more of a surprise no one recognized Facts of Life girl.

Click to expand...

I could probably name the Giants 2002 Roster, at least half of them, which included Jeff Kent and Berry Bonds. I just find it hard to believe that only one person recognized him, given he was a star baseball player in his career.

Click to expand...

I don't know, I mean I can't think of that many people I know who are huge baseball fans or know the names of any players. I would say I am a very casual baseball fan, watching games on TV every now and then and going to a game about once every two years (usually the A's), but I could count the number of players names I know on one hand, including any past and present players. They don't include Jeff Kent, I have no idea who he played for.

I do know Blair though! I watch the Facts of Life on DVD every now and then. It doesn't look like Lisa will be sticking around for long though.